About Me

I'm just me - a solitary wanderer who trekked across much of the world and recently retired to a small farm in the Ozarks.
My checkered past includes time spent as an Army officer, high school teacher and principal, real estate broker, child protection worker and administrator, and social worker with the U.S. military.
Over the years I have resided in a variety of places including Missouri, Virginia, Okinawa, Kansas, Kentucky, and Arizona. I have also traveled to Germany, Mexico, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Great Britain, Belize, Guatemala, Taiwan, Guam, South Korea, Vietnam, and numerous islands in the Caribbean - including Cuba.
I have ridden in a Russian ambulance, hitch-hiked across Moscow late at night, fought an ostrich, celebrated New Year's at a street party in Hanoi, and bicycled across the Caribbean. My travels have taken me to Ground Zero in Hiroshima, the Bolshoi Ballet, China Beach, and the White House kitchen.
The nine things in life that I am most proud of are my children: Nick, Molly, and Tim, and my grandchildren: Boone, Sebastian, Judah, Olive, Willow, and Sullivan.
Life has been very good to me indeed!

Friday, March 3, 2017

The Rehabilitation of George W. Bush

by Pa RockCitizen Journalist

Several years ago some clever Republicans started putting up billboards with a picture of former President George W. Bush along with the caption, "Miss Me Yet?" They were certain in their own minds that true Americans had had enough of Obama's social engineering and were ready to return to the good old days of deaf autocrats and never-ending war. But they misjudged America's infatuation with basic decency, and the Bush billboards quietly disappeared from the landscape.

But time, as they say, heals all wounds - or, in some cases, wounds all heels - and public perceptions slowly began to change.

The election of Donald J. Trump to the presidency seems to have been the catalyst that brought George W. Bush out of the quiet solitude that he had cultivated in retirement and back into the public view. Over the past few weeks he has made several critical pronouncements regarding Number 45 that have been widely reported in the news. He has spoken out against Trump's impulsive war on undocumented immigrants and his questionable interactions with Russia - noting that America needs answers to questions about Trump's ties to the Putin regime. And to frost the cake of criticism, Bush commented that he does not like racism and name-calling - two pillars of the new administration.

Today there were stories in the press telling of George W. Bush's "affection" for Michelle Obama. Come on, America, how can we not love a guy who is fond of Michelle - after eight years of Rush Limbaugh and every other Republican troll calling her everything from uppity to fat to militant?

Although I was never a fan of the politics and policies of George W. Bush, an affable soul who managed to get elected to a position that was well beyond his ability to perform, I do feel some compassion for him. Bush, even in the best of circumstances, was mortally crippled by a tragic mistake in his choice of a Vice-President and was never able to overcome the dark power and control of Dick Cheney.

America grievously misunderestimated George W. Bush. He was and is, at his core, is a decent human being.